USVI-On-Line

1995: 5 days
almost 5 years on island
May 2002: 8 days
April 2007: 7 days
August 2007:7 days
June 2008: 8 days
April 2009: 8 days
April 2010: 7 days
December 2010: 6 days
May 2011: 8 days
April 2012: 7 days
February 2013: 6 days
July 2013: 10 days

We have been going to SJ almost every year since 1995! How lucky are we! The few years we didn't go, we really missed SJ. It's really like a homesick feeling when we don't go. I remember the first time I stepped onto Cruz Bay - felt like I was home.

Sometimes when I am not there I start thinking - is it really that beautiful - but when I get back it really is just as beautiful as I imagine it is! St. John is quite a place.....

Friends ask me If I am going back to SJ again and they always say there are other places to go to. They just don't know.....Will be there this July. Can't wait - as usual!

We have been fortunate enough to go every other year with a different vacation destination between each visit. We were in Tamarindo Costa Rica last year and we LOVED IT. Its nice to vacation in other places but STJ will be a place we will ALWAYS come back to.

Not often enough!! I made it there 5 years in a row around November. Due to work/life issues I skipped this past winter and I'm DYING to get back. We went to the Florida Keys recently and it pales in comparison. Beth Cruz - I am GREEN with envy!!

We have been visting twice a year since 2003, usually totalling 28 days or so. John and I are lucky in that we both get a lot of vacation time from our jobs, so we visit other places as well, but St. John is definitely our favorite vacation destination.

We went last year for the first time. We were warned by friends that once you go you'll be hooked! Well we leave tomorrow for our 2nd trip and probably go next year as well!

Beth Cruz wrote:2 weeks in the spring and 3 in the fall. This is year 46 for one of us and 45 for both.

That is AWESOME

I'm really loving all of your responses -- so many of us in different stages of chronic St. John addiction....a beautiful thing!

Beth Cruz, I would *love* to read your thoughts on how St. John has changed and evolved from a (very!) longtime visitor's perspective -- this forum is mostly about St. John 'now', but I'm so fascinated by stories of St. John 'then'. Pretty please with sugar on top??

We try to visit STJ every 2-3 years or so (just the 2 of us, or with another couple who also "get it"). Seems to work well for us, we have other vacation obligations (extended family trip to hawaii every other year, other travel opportunities that seem to fill in the gaps). I do seem to notice "when are we going back to STJ" symptoms about a year out from the last trip. And the fact that I'm still lurking on the board without a ticker - shows the level of that addiction. But not sure if going every year would work for us. Seems to make the visits a little more special.

But I'm Not saying that I wouldn't mind going more regularly.

Lark 22,
Am not prone to be long winded so will keep it short. The island certainly has changed. Back in ’67 and ’68 Rodney Varlack was the only car rental guy around (Mini Mokes) and taxis were actual cars. Hardly any restaurants (think Caneel). Provisions were skimpy—some years the luggage included lettuce and Hellmans. We skipped a couple years when the kids needed the Disney fix, but kept going back. Things changed gradually, including number of restaurants, favorite bartenders and food supplies. Always the friendliest people and greatest beaches on earth. Have made many lasting friendships.

Mostly once a year for us, staying 8 days, since 2009. Our first year, we got to go twice, and this year 3 times! I took my daughter to St. John in January, and she can't wait to get back. I tell her she's gotta do something that justifies a big celebration -

2005- once
2007- twice
2008- once
2009- twice
2010- twice
2011- once
2012- three times !
2013- will be once

They were all between 8 and 10 days

2007 = once
2008 = twice
...long painful pause...
2013 = trip planned for November

It is an addiction - it can be broken as your life changes but beware- it is possible to get addicted again. How do I know:
We went almost every year from 1983-1996 with two kids growing up- in Feb and April(cheap rates in April)
College meant no vacations for a few years.
We went alone in 2001 for 3 days- then did Tortolla- nice bit not as nice as St John.
2002-2011- we travelled alone to non beach places in Europe and Central America- well maybe a beach for a day or two on some trips.
In 2011 my grown kids want to go back to St John on a family trip with grandson- we all get addicted again and my sons-in-law are newly addicted. Return in 2012 and everyone wants to go every year. Maybe not for a while with new babies on the way and of course it isn't cheap. I guess you never really get it out of your blood.

Late 90s: 4 days I think
February 2012: 8 days
December 2012/January 2013: 11 days
May 2013: 6 days

If all goes as planned, we will be back again in February 2014 for our anniversary and perhaps for 8 Tuff miles.